diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a788ad8f..fbe0651d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -10,7 +10,17 @@ AC_PROG_LN_S
 AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
 AC_PROG_CXX
 
-AC_PATH_PROG(dblatex, dblatex)
+dnl Optional dependencies to build the manual, normally not needed
+dnl since the tarball comes with the PDF and HTML manuals.
+AC_PATH_PROG([DBLATEX], [dblatex])
+AC_PATH_PROG([XSLTPROC], [xsltproc])
+
+AC_ARG_WITH([docbook-xsl],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-docbook-xsl=PATH],
+    [path of the DocBook XSL stylesheets])],
+  [docbookxsl="$withval"],
+  [docbookxsl="/docbook-xsl-missing"])
+AC_SUBST([docbookxsl])
 
 
 AC_DEFUN([NEED_PROG],
diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile.am b/doc/manual/Makefile.am
index e10efb05..db31cd7c 100644
--- a/doc/manual/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/manual/Makefile.am
@@ -7,9 +7,22 @@ dblatex_opts = \
  -P doc.collab.show=0 \
  -P latex.output.revhistory=0
 
+# Include the manual in the tarball.
+dist_html_DATA = manual.html
+dist_pdf_DATA = manual.pdf
+
+manual.html: $(DOCBOOK_FILES)
+	if test "$(XSLTPROC)" != ""; then				\
+		$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude --output manual.html	\
+	 	   $(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl manual.xml;		\
+	else								\
+		@echo "Please install xsltproc and rerun configure.";	\
+		exit 1;							\
+	fi
+
 manual.pdf : $(DOCBOOK_FILES)
-	if test "$(dblatex)" != ""; then \
-	        $(dblatex) $(dblatex_opts) manual.xml; \
+	if test "$(DBLATEX)" != ""; then \
+	        $(DBLATEX) $(dblatex_opts) manual.xml; \
 	else \
 	        echo "Please install dblatex and rerun configure."; \
 	        exit 1; \